Wage Attachment in Pennsylvania

Can my wages be attached for a credit card debt in Pennsylvania? By far, this is the number one question that I receive at my office. To cut right to it, the answer is an emphatic NO!

Pennsylvania is one of four states that do not allow wage attachment (typically called a garnishment) for simple debt owed to a creditor. (North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas are the others).

In Pennsylvania, wage attachment can only occur in very limited circumstances. Among those are
1) judgments for child or spousal support;
2) obligations relating to a final divorce distribution;
3) back rent on a residential lease;
4) as restitution for criminal matters;
5) for certain types of taxes.

As you can see, there are very limited circumstances under which PA allows wage garnishment to occur, and credit card debt is not one of them.

The reason that I get this question so much is because many debt collectors use wage attachment as a threat. I would imagine that it is a very powerful threat, the thought of having my wages garnished is very troubling. To a person who is not educated in the law, the threat must be even more troublesome.

Let's talk about wage garnishment a bit to see exactly what it is and why debt collectors make such a threat. A garnishment is an act whereby money or property that is owed to the Debtor (the defendant in the credit card lawsuit) or that is being held by someone (the Garnishee) for the Debtor, is taken to pay a Judgment. Therefore, wage garnishment would be where the judgment creditor directs the garnishee to hold funds (pay, commission or wages) that are owed to the Debtor and give them to the judgment creditor. Again, to be clear, there is no wage garnishment or wage attachment in Pennsylvania for credit card debt.

Unfortunately, debt collectors still make this threat on a very regular basis, even though wage garnishment cannot occur in PA. They use this threat as a scare tactic and their reasoning is two-fold. The first reason is obvious, they want the money. Most collectors work on a contingent or bonus basis. That means that they get paid a percentage of what they collect, or, they have quotas that they have to meet to get paid. The second reason is that they know that most people are not educated in the law and that most people simply want the issue to go away.

To make a threat of wage garnishment in PA is illegal. There is a federal law called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) that provides protections to consumers/debtors. This law makes it illegal for debt collectors to make a threat that they cannot carry out. Since wage attachment or garnishment cannot occur in PA, making a threat to do so is illegal.

If you are a debtor in Pennsylvania and a wage garnishment threat is made against you, contact a consumer attorney right away. You will have the ability to bring a claim against that debt collector and it will not cost you a penny! The FDCPA has a provision in it whereby the debt collector is responsible for your attorney fees if there is a debt collection violation. In that regard, any knowledgeable consumer attorney will take on your case without taking a retainer (an up front payment).

Remember, only in the very limited circumstances delineated above can there be a wage attachment in Pennsylvania. Credit card debt is not one of the listed circumstances.